Ahlu Sunnah Thrashes Out Differences
Leaders from pro-government Islamist militia Ahlu Sunnah wal Jamaa (ASWJ) have gathered in Abudwak for a week-long conference aimed at electing a new general administration and solving internal conflicts that have hampered military operations.
The Sufi-led alliance has proven a major player in government operations against militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, controlling territory in central Somalia and also helping the government gain ground in the border region of Gedo.
Yet in recent months, there have been increasing signs of splits, with at one point hundreds of fighters from the Sade/Marehan subclan breaking off and returning to their home patch of Abudwak, claiming that the Ayr, a Hawiye subclan, were dominating leadership positions and hogging arms donated by Ethiopia.
Some 500 ASWJ officials, elders, Ethiopian officials and the special envoy for regional bloc IGAD are taking part in the conference.
ASWJ officials said that they had donated $200,000 to organize the meeting, while Italy provided another $100,000.
IGAD’s envoy to Somalia, Jamal Ahmed Ibrahim, told participants at the opening that they needed ASWJ to solve its internal problems in order to continue the fight against al-Shabaab.
The moderate Sufi group, which renounced its non-violent creed and entered the conflict after militant Islamist group al-Shabaab desecrated Sufi graves, is often accused of serving as a proxy for Ethiopia, which withdrew from Somalia in early 2009 after a two-year occupation that sparked the ongoing insurgency. As well as handing out weapons, Ethiopia has trained at least 500 ASWJ fighters on its own soil before sending them back into Somalia.
Despite lingering associations with the unpopular Ethiopians, ASWJ still draws a lot of public support as it is seen as grassroots movement that encompassed all groups.
However, this unifying force of hatred for al-Shabaab has failed to keep a lid on clan rivalries.
“This was an alliance that was probably not cohesive from the beginning,” Rashid Abdi, Horn of African analyst for the International Crisis Group told Somalia Report earlier this year. “ASWJ was a shorthand for all the groups in central Somalia opposed to al-Shabaab. The Sufi aspect is often overplayed.”
Rashid said that Ethiopia's support for certain clans within ASWJ, as evidenced with the arms distribution, has only helped the fragmentation.